The Holocaust

                The Holocaust was a devastating time that happened during World War II, which

 changed the lives of many people all over the world. The Nazis who came to power in Germany

 believed that they were the only race of superiority and that the Jews were beneath them, and a

 threat to their perfect race. This Nazi regimen murdered and persecuted approximately six

 million Jews. The name holocaust comes from the Greek word “holokauston” meaning “sacrifice

 by fire” (USHMM). There cannot be a greater horror and horrifying story in world history than

 The Holocaust at the Nazi camps.

              The Germans solution to rid this so called inferior race, was to gather and move all of the

 Jews, out of their homes and make them live in marked off sections of confinement in towns and

 cities called, “ghettos” or “Jewish residential quarters” (USHMM). These quarters were not fit

 for any human being. Many were enclosed with barb wire, fences and walls. Armed guards were

 posted at entrances enforcing curfews on the populations’ comings and goings. There were 1,000

 ghettos made to house the Jewish population, the largest was in Warsaw where almost half a

 million Jews were housed (USHMM). Life in the ghettos was horrible. So many people were

 gathered into one apartment, that plumbing broke down and there was no running water and 

 sewage. Human waste was thrown into the streets along with the garbage.  People with little or

 no money were forced to barter, beg and steal for food. When winter months came there was no 

 heating and people did not have adequate clothing.  Tens of thousands of people living in these

 ghettos died from illness, starvation or the cold (USHMM).

           Then a new stage of the holocaust took place. Since there was a war going on and the

 Germans presumed victory, they turned from forced emigration and confinement of the Jews, to

mass murder. They would go out into the towns and kill any Jew that occupied Soviet territory.

 These mobile killing units caught the Jewish population and anybody part of the communist 

party including the Roma (Gypsies) by surprise. The Nazis killed men, women and children by

 lining them up in a cemetery and shooting them (USHMM).

          In the months following these mobile killings, the Nazis continued their killing spree.

 They also deported the people to gas chambers where it was less intense for the killers and more

 efficient to do, without after effects of feelings that the killers were feeling. More than two

 million Jews were killed in these gas chambers. Then comes the concentration camp of 

Auschwitz, which escape was almost impossible. This too, was surrounded by barb wire and

 fences to keep the people in. Cruel medical experiments were done on these people. Dr.

 Mengele, a German scientist carried out painfully, inhumane medical experiments on twins, with

 the intent to find better medical treatments for the German population. Many people died from

 these experiments, and others that died after the experiments were finished, their organs were

 taken for further study (USHMM).

           Finally near the end of the war when Germany’s military force was weakening and

 collapsing, allied forces were homing in on this cruel and devastating treatment of the Jewish

 population in the Nazi concentration camps. Because of allied forces coming, prisoners were

 forced by the Nazi regimen to walk, the “death march”. The Jews walked many miles in the cold, 

with no food or water and rest, to labor camps. The Nazis often killed those who could not keep

 up or just because they felt like it. Soviet soldiers were first to invade the concentration camps,

 and found sick and exhausted prisoners who were like living skeletons, which the Germans left 

behind in their hasty retreat. In spite of the efforts of the Soviet soldiers, many prisoners were too

 sick, and to far along to save and died (USHMM).

           Those of who survived had mixed emotions to their new found freedom. The survivors

 could not believe that they were free (USHMM).  While some were willing to be united with 

their loved ones, some were feeling very guilty that they had survived and lost their relatives.

 Survivors then had to deal with freedom and also a new way to live. One survivor Eva Kor, has

 been keeping alive the memories of what she and millions of other survivors have experienced.

 To relieve herself from a hurting heart she has forgiving the Nazis and even Mengele for what

 they did (Julie Blum). These survivors lived to tell a horrific part of history that should not be 

forgotten and should be told to all of the generations to come.

                                                         Works Cited

Blum, Julie. "Holocaust survivor shares message of forgiveness." Columbus Telegram. N.p., 29

       July 2013. Web. 6 May 2014. <http://columbustelegram.com/news/local/holocaust-survivor-

      shares-message-of-forgiveness/article_c82ba8ab-eb7c-57b8-b17c-3db8527a2480.html>.

"The Holocaust a Learning site for students." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

      United States Holocaust Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 6 May 2014.

Journal 8

           


                         On my first day coming to this class I was a little worried.  But after the first class I was put at ease.  The instructor let us know what was expected from us from the very beginning.  She would also send out announcements every week and reminders which in my world was very beneficial because of a lot going on in my life.  I enjoyed the videos that were very educational and brought to light many things that I was not aware of .  Having peer critiques at first I was a little shy and embarrassed, but then I realized how beneficial and helpful this was.  We all can help each other. Also I was hesitant on having a blog , computer savvy I am not and I had no idea what would I say.  But reading all of the other students essays and comments helped me to be a little more creative in words of thought.  Thank you for this opportunity to be in the ENC 1102 with Kelly Warren.

                                                                   Social Promotion

        Education is one of the basic tools and opportunities in life needed to achieve an 

academic goal. This opportunity is a privilege for the taking. Do your best, work hard and reap

 the rewards.   Thus, schools have not admitted to adopting a practice that is called social

 promotion. This practiced has been around in the United State for over 20 years (King). Social

 promotion is a practice used by schools that promotes students not meeting requirements for the

 next grade level to advance to that next grade level (Social Promotion). 

Should social promotion be practiced in the school system?

       According to a recent report in Education Week, experts believe that by adopting social

 promotion practices, this would be beneficial to the child’s social and intellectual well-being, not

 to mention being among their peers chronologically. Without the practice of promoting social

 promotion, teachers feel that high failure rates would reflect poorly on the school and school

 personnel. Teachers promote students because of the pressures they receive from the principals

 and parents, whether the student is ready or not because they feel that holding back is ineffective

 to the students and, that there is no other alternative that would help the student (education.com).

 Perhaps, by using social promotion, this is the easiest and quickest way to help struggling

 students.  This practice of social promotion is only benefitting the schools.

          Considering the reasons mentioned above, how is this, a benefit to our students, and what

 are the repercussions? First of all social promotion has a negative effect on student improvement,

 which can have a long term impact on a student’s belief of preparedness to the next grade level.

 Secondly, it gives a struggling student a false sense of skills mastered. This in turn can send

 messages to other students that their hard work and diligence does not matter. Third teachers

 have to reconfigure lessons plans, and do differentiating strategies to accommodate the

 struggling student therefore, becoming frustrated with the expectation of students to earn good

 grades (education.com).

         Also, research shows another repercussion that affects our students’ self- confidence, is

 that social promotion does and will not help in the advancement of the students’ academic

 standards. By promoting a student, that is not ready to go into the next grade level, it hinders

 their capability of catching up with their peers because they have lost a full year of academic

 studies. This can also cause higher dropout rates later in years because they do not have what it

 takes to take tests to get better grades and scores. (“Is Social Promotion Crippling our Childrens

 Future”). Their test taking and basic skills are lacking in order to succeed. Westchester Institutes

 for Human Research, found that future problems can arise. Colleges have to use extra money to

 help students succeed because they are not up to potential with their grades. Businesses are also 

using extra money to invest in training employees who are not sufficiently prepared for the skills 

that should have been achieved in school. The world today will end up dealing with people who

 are not ready in skills needed to be able to function in today’s society (“Is Social Promotion

 Crippling our Childrens Future”). This feeling of inadequacy can be very frustrating, 

embarrassing and hard to bear. The thought of all our future students who are struggling and are

 passed on to the next grade unprepared for the sake of the school’s reputation and grade is

 appalling

.

         While retention would be a simple solution to social promotion practices, this too has not

 proven to be the most successful alternative to help struggling students. Some suggestions

 offered up by the Winchester Institute of Human Services Research are:

1.      To have clear and precise standards that is required by students, to accomplish.

2.      Curriculum given to students grade by grade accounted for.

3.      For teachers to perform multiple assessments according to the need of the student in order for 

      each child to be accommodated.

4.     Workshops offered to the teacher for different teaching strategies and learning styles to 

      accommodate students.

5.      Smaller class sizes along with block scheduling to help give more one on one attention to the learning process.

6.      Having resource services available to help struggling students.

             Finally, the research also suggests that the strongest most beneficial tool that we can give

 our children is exposure to some form of education at an early age in the basic skills that will be

 taught in our school system and help relieve some of the struggles students might face (“ Is

 Social Promotion Crippling our Childrens Future”).

           In order to help with the social promotion practice of struggling students in the school

 system, we first must identify the problem and be willing to help revise the current strategy

 which in turn might help find a solution. In a lighter note research seems to point out that our

 schools are willing to try any new approach in keeping our students from failing and using this

 social promotion practice. With this in mind there is hope for the future generations that will be

 graduating through our school system.

                                                                    Works Citied

J. Aldridge/R. Goldman—Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall. “Prevalence of Social Promotion”) updated Jul 20. 2010

          http://www.education.com/reference/article/social-promotion-education/

Chen, Grace. “Is Social Promotion Crippling Our Childrens Future the debate.” Publicschool review,

           N.p., n.d. Web.. http://www.publicshoolsreview.com>. 21 Apr. 2014

King, Patricia. “Politics of Promotion.” Newsweek 15 June 1998: 27. Academic OneFile Web.

 "Social Promotion." Education . N.p., n.d. Web. . <http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/social-

            promotion/>.

Journal 7

             Watching the film Waiting for Superman was very close to my heart.  I too had to play the lottery game, fill out an application and put our first, second, third, school choice.  You were not guaranteed a spot of your choice.  So if your name was not called you had to make other arrangements.  Luckily we were called and all three of my daughters were able to get the choice we wanted. Lottery is a hard way to get into school of choice but with so many children and not enough facilities what other way is there?
 I am in the school system and watching these families go through so many obstacles in order for their child to get  school of their choice and a good education is hard. Also seeing teachers who don't even care to teach or do anything with their students is horrible.  Think of all the wisdom and experience that these teachers can give to their students and how much they could learn.  The reason why students are there is only to learn.

Cheryl DeVito

Kelley Warren

ENC 1102

Final

6 April 2014

                                                      Media influence on Children

               Media today is and always will be very influential in our society. Today this basic tool of

 information has become a big part of our daily lives. Everywhere we go we are bombarded with

 some form of information. Media can be defined as a multi-messaging medium that spreads

 information quickly informing the public of news, through television, radio, printed materials

 and computers. Media exposure infiltrates the minds of our youth. According to the American

 Academy of pediatrics, “Children are influenced by media. They learn by observing and

 imitating. This can affect their attitudes, values, and behaviors.” At a high degree this exposure

 can be damaging. The majority images seen by young people in the media are men and women

 portrayed as stereotypical roles, with women and men as sex objects. Many photos shown in

 media are either altered or photo shopped to show a different reality then what really exists. This

 media influence manifests in the minds and bodies of our youth and brings about unrealistic

 expectations to them ("Media Lesson"). Therefore, media is harmful to our youth impressing the

 wrong values.

 

        It is clear that the media influences our youth. First of all it destroys values in todays’

 society by drawing the population into the world they predict. Media influence can also be

 deliberate often directed towards children. Advertisers spend billions of dollars on marketing

 strategies knowing that children are easy prey (Raising Children Network”). You are not the first

 to buy your child what is the in thing. Secondly, through magazines, advertisements, and music

 videos, media presents unrealistic, unattainable, body images and beauty messages that can have

 a strong impact on their desire to look and be the same through some kind of diet or beauty

 regimen. These indirect media influences can suggest to teenagers that this is the normal way to

 look and behave. Our teenagers are just learning how to make up their own minds, and the media

 influence can be a big impression on their developing minds. Research shows that the influence 

 of the media has linked the promotion of body thinness with body dissatisfaction and the

 development of eating disorder practices particularly in girls (Lawrie, Z, et al).  Over the past

 years anorexia and obesity has been an ongoing issue among young people (AAP). This is

 especially worrisome when there is no one to disagree with the thin beauty message portrayed. 

 Body ideal images in the media have increased in teenagers to want to have plastic surgery, such

 as breast implants and muscles enhancement (“Media Influence on teenagers”).

         Some may argue that media is a positive influence. Through watching educational

 programs, like Sesame Street and Barney, the media becomes a teaching tool for the very young.

 Teenagers can develop social and political insight by watching current affairs and documentaries

 through the news. This all depends on what quality of media is being used ("Media Influence on

 teenagers"). However, this information cannot be the whole truth. Media information is made up

 from a group of people who for a purpose, decide what to put into words, what to show through

 pictures and what to leave out (American Academy of Pediatrics).

        Nonetheless, media can have much to teach our youth but some of what is being viewed

 may not be what we want our children to be watching. We as a society also have to be

 accountable for what we watch and let our children watch. Teachable moments are there when it

 comes to advertisements and reality shows portraying incorrect values. Discuss what is

 happening by encouraging your child to really think and ask questions about the media messages

 you are watching. For example, why did the man jump up seconds later after he was hit by a car?

 Choose quality, age appropriate, educational programming.  Do not leave the television on when

 nobody is watching, instead read a book, listen to music, play games or spend time with your

children

. 

          All in all, media information should be just information that reflects reality without any

 ulterior motive or interpretation that misleads the public. These written, audio or visual messages

 that are a part of our daily lives, reinstate influences on our youth’s minds and dictate what the

 norm needs to be in this society. They also portray impossible body images for men and women

 that are unrealistic to achieve, which gives the public low self-esteem. Finally media relays more

 pessimistic messages giving a negative effect, harming our youth for their own purpose and 

impressing upon them the wrong values of a healthy life.

                                                                  Works Cited

.American Academy of pediatrics. N.p., Web 8 Apr 2014. www.thepediariccenter.net.>

Lawrie, Z, et al. “Media influence On The Body Image Of  Children And Adolescents.”

            Eating Disorders 14.5 (2006) 355-364, CINAHL Plus with full text Web. 8

            APR. 2014

“Media Lesson.” . N.p. Web 6 Apr 2014

“Media Influence on teenagers.” Raising childrens network. N.p., . Web. 7 Apr 2014.

            <www.raising children.net.au.>

perf. “Advertising and children.” Raising childrens network. N.p., . web. 8 Apr 2014

            <http://raisingchildren.net.au/verve/_resources/advertising_podcast_transcript.

            Pdf>.

                This film was very informative.  The bias portrayal of women has not changed

 for the better.  Every time we turn on the television there is always an advertisement for

 a product or television show that portrays women in a sensual way. 

Take Victoria Secret, for instance, their models are portrayed in the best way possible

 with one purpose, to sell their products. Advertiser enhance and photo shop pictures of

 their models that are unrealistic.

               

               I have a teenage daughter, who along with her friends, see this kind of media

 every day. Whether it be through television, magazines, billboards.  They are very much

 into their appearance and image. The media sets these girls up to fail, planting in their

 heads that they too someday may look like that model. Girls growing up in this day

 and age, see through the media, certain standards on how to be.  This is not right. 

Girls should be able to walk with their head held high and be content with the way

 the lord made them and not be dictated by the media to look or act a certain 

way in order to fit into society.   

Mrs. Kelley Warren

ENC1102

Final Draft

1 April 2014

                                                             Reduce Food Waste

             Working families today have hard decisions to make with the economy not being as good

 as it used to be. Families are working harder to provide for each other. Some families are forced

 to choose between paying bills, buying medicine or buying food to put on the table. According to

 the Department of Agriculture, 14% of Americans do not receive enough food to put on the table,

 to have a healthy lifestyle ("Reducing Food Waste for Business"). What makes no sense to me is

 that 40% of perfectly good food to eat produced in this country, is either left to rot or tossed out

 in landfills ("Washington post”). What a waste of food. In fact, by reducing this waste of good

 food in landfills, we could be providing enough food to help families in need, the environment,

 and save money.

            Together we can reduce the food waste problem in our homes and community. According

 to Wrap, a food waste organization, there are five ways to reduce food waste, “planning,

 portioning, storage, date labels, and leftovers”. This means planning menus, having smaller

 portions, storing food properly, know what the labels mean when purchasing food from the

 grocery store, and get creative with leftovers and food still left in the pantry (“Guardian”), we

 could work together towards reducing food waste.  Considering, how much food restaurants

 cook and serve, there is a project called, Quick Service Restaurant Council, (ORSC) to help

 eliminate excessive food waste. The council is helping these restaurants reduce the amount of

 waste, by educating employees to learn a new form of tossing habit. The employees were shown

 how to recycle. There is one container color coded for waste, and the other color coded for

 organics. Participants saw positive results. Food waste reduction went from, 70% to 30%, and

 25% down in cost of waste management ("Fast food, fast waste”). Another way of reduction of

 food waste is by donating food to organizations and charities. This would indeed reduce the

 amount of waste in landfills ("Reducing Food Waste for Business").

             Lowering the food waste into landfills will certainly bring us many benefits to the

 environment. We can all work together to change the impact, that this brings to the environment. 

Reducing the amount of food in landfills can diminish the 20% of methane gases produced by

 food that is more damaging to our atmosphere, then carbon dioxide. Helping our environment

 can also help bring more food to the needy, with an estimate of 50 million Americans who are in

 need of food. Businesses also can benefit from reducing the amount of food waste going to

 landfills. Food waste can be divided from trash, composted, resulting in less money spent on

 disposal ("Reducing Food Waste for Business").

              By making the decisions to reduce food waste restaurants and households can also reduce

 their cost of only buying what ingredients are necessary, lowering the amount of improper food

 prepared, keeping in mind that this will help in the reduction of waste. . Another benefit is being

 able to receive a tax benefit by donating to food banks, shelters, and soup kitchens. SUPERVALU,

 Inc., a retail  grocery store, in 2010, donated food to those in need adding up to 48 million meals,

 and saved millions of dollars while doing this ("Reducing Food Waste for Business"). A program

 nationally known, called Rock and Wrap It Up, works with businesses, by collecting and donating

 leftover food from all kinds of events and then gives to the needy. Their reduction of food going to the

 landfills, resulted in feeding l60, 000 people in need ("Rock and Wrap It Up").

              Although throwing out food is wasteful there can be legitimate reasons why a business,

 restaurant or household would do so.  Food recalls. If there is a health risk during any of the

 processing or packaging of food, then a food recall is issued ("wisegeek.com").

             In today’s society there is plenty of food for the taking. With this in mind, people tend

 to just waste food without any thinking about the consequence done to the environment or to the

 less fortunate. Reducing the amount food sent to landfills will not happen overnight.  If we come

 together as individuals and as community we can reduce the amount of food in landfills. In this

 manner, there will be less harm to the environment, more hungry mouths will be fed, and the

 money saved will help the economy. Which would you choose, help find a solution or just turn

 the other way?

                                                               Works Cited

"Fast Food, Fast Waste." Environment 37.7 (1995): 24. Academic Search Complete. Web.

             25 Mar. 2014.

            "Live better Challenge." .The Guardian. N.p., 10 Mar 2014. Web. 23 Mar 2014.

Rock and Wrap It Up. Print. <www,epa.gov>.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

            Reducing Food Waste for Business. Print.

           <http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/>.

Washington post n.d., n. pag. Print.

"What Are the Most Common Reasons for Food Recall."wisegeek.com. N.p., n. d.

             Web. 1 Apr. 2014. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-most-common-

             reasons-for-a-food-recall.htm>.